Women's physical security and peace in interstate relations in Northeast Asia

Gender studies and International Relations discipline are used to understand each other since 1988. The relation between gender and security studies has been advanced by a number of feminist theorists. In particular, it is claimed that countries with gender inequality are more confrontational. In order to test this theory, this study attempts to understand whether there is a correlation between the physical security of women and conflict vs. peace in interstate relations. Northeast Asian countries, Japan, Mongolia, China, South Korea and North Korea have been selected as case countries. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to test the hypothesis. It is concluded that the countries with high physical security of women tend to behave peacefully in their relations; countries where women are not physically safe tend to be more confrontational.